Entrepreneurship is one of the best, scariest, most rewarding, and hugely faith-activating things you can do. This is especially so if you start adulthood with what society bills as stability -a job. Knowing exactly when you’ll get paid and how much. Betting on yourself could be more stable than a job that you can be fired from without notice. But are you up to the high highs and sometimes low lows that can be the reality of entrepreneurship? Let’s dive into a few things you need to ponder.
Mindset. One undeniable truth persists: wherever you go, there YOU are. The way you think shows up in all areas of your life, including business. If you don’t know how to communicate well in your relationships, you’ll have problems with your marketing messaging. If you have issues with money in your personal life, you’ll have issues with your business finances. To be successful in business, you’ll have to deal with the things about yourself that will get in the way of success.
Hunt To Eat. The seeming stability of a job comes from the fact that the company you work for does the hunting for business and you need only “eat” by servicing the business they bring in. Their marketing budgets, research, and strategies go beyond those of entrepreneurs. So while the freedom of entrepreneurship is enticing, it requires consistent efforts to maintain. Most small business models lack steady cash flow due to the stagnation of new businesses coming in and the churn of old businesses going out.
Reverse Engineering In Vain. Watching others’ perceived success and executing what you think is their strategy to get what you think are their results is a dangerous game. Without having a seat at the table that planned what you were able to observe, you are missing a lot of information -including whether they were actually successful or not. Can your business foundation carry what is needed for the strategies used? Does what your business needs align with what the strategy will yield? These are important questions to answer. Another one is will their strategy make you look like everyone else in an already crowded marketplace.
Going By Feelings. I always say, “Get out of your feelings. Ain’t no money in there!” This is particularly true when it comes to your business decisions. Some entrepreneurs don’t know the data behind their circumstances out of fear. But not knowing doesn’t prevent a possible negative impact. But it does prevent you from maximizing time-sensitive opportunities. If you don’t know your numbers and your data, then you don’t know when to pump the breaks (to stop something bad from becoming worse) OR press the gas (to take advantage of when things are going well).
Want to have a conversation about how to win at entrepreneurship? Let’s talk. It’s FREE. ShaCannon.info/talk